


Elsa Lanchester

by chaya



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Corpses, Death, Gen, Graphic Description of Corpses, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-10
Updated: 2014-07-10
Packaged: 2018-02-08 07:00:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1931148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaya/pseuds/chaya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All of this is awful and nobody should read it. Heed the tags.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Elsa Lanchester

**Author's Note:**

> (Elsa Lanchester played the bride in the original 'Bride of Frankenstein' film, which came out in the mid-thirties.)

The asset can't go back into cryo too fast. If the mission doesn't take long, they throw him in a holding cell until he's thawed enough to freeze again.

**

Some of the grunts don't like seeing the asset get zapped. Others think it's funny. They start calling him Frankenstein's monster, then just Frankenstein, and they start joking that they need to find him a bride.

"Someone to keep him company in there."

The next time the mission's done and he gets put in holding, they throw a body in with him, one that was on its way to the incinerator. "There's your Elsa Lanchester," they whisper. "Take good care of her."

They laugh and leave.

**

The asset stares at her for a long time. She doesn't move. He crawls over and rolls her onto her back. She's cold, not breathing, eyes closed. He tugs one lid open. No activity. He lets go.

Was she not properly woken up from cryo?

The asset tries to think of what the technicians do when they pull him out, what they do to make him breathe again, to make him wake up. He has no tools to restart her heart. He pumps her chest instead. It does not work.

She is not getting warmer. He pulls her to the cot in the corner and pulls the thin sheet to her shoulder. Waits. She is not getting warmer. He curls up behind her, remembering this from something, that it's an important thing to do. Women. Holding them. There's something important about it.

By accident, the asset falls asleep.

**

Footsteps outside. The asset wakes up, and waits for the door to open, but it doesn't. The footsteps pass. It must not be time yet.

She is still lying next to him, unmoved. She is a little warmer but still not breathing. The asset checks her pulse at her wrist, then her other wrist, her throat, and finally pushes her shirt up to press his ear to her heart, but

there is blood.

It is caked on her shirt and stains the skin around her gut. It is deep. No exit wound. Maybe this is why she is not waking up. She was put in cryo while still injured.

(Why didn't she provide a status report?)

The asset pulls the sheet down and pulls the shirt up as high as it will go. He washes his hands in the basin and kneels over her, digging the slug out for her, rolling it between his fingers a moment before throwing it aside. It is good she is not awake yet. It would have hurt. It will still hurt, when she wakes up. The blood is not pumping yet. There is not much on his hands. He pulls her shirt back down, washes his hands again, pulls the sheet back up to her chin.

He thinks.

He pulls the sheet back down, rolls her onto her back, her sides, looking for more holes in her clothes. None. Good. Just one should not take long to heal. He has had worse.

He looks at her. She has dark hair and a pointed chin. She is thin but strong. They said her name was Elsa Lanchester. Her jacket says STRATEGIC HOMELAND INTERVENTION ENFORCEMENT AND LOGISTICS DIVISION. He does not know this organization. He does not know Elsa Lanchester. Maybe she was undercover there. Maybe her cover was blown and she was shot. Why didn't they let her heal before they froze her again? Why is she still in her mission gear?

They have not taken good care of her. The asset wishes he had a shirt to layer over her clothes, to make her warmer. She is not making her own heat yet, but he can hold her again, give her some of his. It only works a little. He checks her pulse again. He holds her. He falls asleep.

**

Footsteps. The asset wakes up. Elsa is rigid against him. Scared? He sits up and watches the door, waiting, but the footsteps pass. Not yet.

He wonders if he should tell them, when they get him. If he should say something. 'The other asset needs a medical technician.' He repeats the phrase over and over in his mind. It feels strange. He did not know there were other assets until they put her in here.

He goes to check on her. The wound is not closing, and she is. She is not rigid because she is scared, because she is not awake. Her body is white and cold and stiff like a dead thing, but she is an asset, she cannot die.

Something is wrong.

The asset goes to the door and hits it. Hits it again. He makes as much noise as he can, shouting, hitting the door and waiting and hitting it again. Footsteps. He waits. The door is open.

"What the fuck are you doing?"

There are two of them. He stands in the middle of the room, arms straight. "Med tech," he says, voice rusty. It hurts his throat.

"What? What the hell did you do to yourself?"

The asset shakes his head and points behind him. She is still not moving. They do not look at her for very long. They look back at him.

"Med tech. Her."

They don't move at first. One walks in, past him, kicks her to roll her over. Her shoulder does not give much. It is very stiff. The man groans.

"That fucker," he says, and he is angry. "Metzger. Metzger had incinerator duty yesterday."

The other man is angry too, now. He makes an annoyed sound and leaves. The first man takes the sheet off of her, looks at her. The asset wants to put the sheet back on her. It is not much but it could help her stay warm. He hopes the other man left to get a medical technician.

The first man rolls her over and pulls at her clothes. "So what'd you do with her, freak? What was she doing in your bed?"

The asset isn't sure if he's supposed to answer or not. He stays in the middle of the room with his arms at his sides. He looks as much as he can without turning. The first man is looking for something on her, but he is not finding it. The asset doesn't know what he's looking for.

Wheels rattling in the hallway. The second man has returned with a long rolling cart. "Shoulders," he says, and the first man grunts. He pulls the sheet off and takes her feet. Together the two men lift her onto the cart. The second man wheels her out. The first man shuts the door behind them.

The asset sits on the cot and waits.

**

The next day, they come for him. They bring him to the cryo room, and ask him why he keeps turning his head.

He is looking for other cryo chambers. He wants to know where she is. He does not say this. They push him in and shut the door.


End file.
